ME 141

Engineering Mechanics

Lecture 2: Statics of particles

Ahmad Shahedi Shakil
Lecturer, Dept. of Mechanical Engg, BUET
E-mail: sshakil@me.buet.ac.bd, shakil6791@gmail.com
Website: teacher.buet.ac.bd/sshakil

Courtesy: Vector Mechanics for Engineers, Beer and Johnston

Resultant of Two Forces
• force: action of one body on another;
characterized by its point of application,
magnitude, line of action, and sense.

• Experimental evidence shows that the

combined effect of two forces may be
represented by a single resultant force.

• The resultant is equivalent to the diagonal of

a parallelogram which contains the two
forces in adjacent legs.

• Force is a vector quantity.

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Vectors
• Vector: parameters possessing magnitude and direction
which add according to the parallelogram law. Examples:
displacements, velocities, accelerations.
• Scalar: parameters possessing magnitude but not
direction. Examples: mass, volume, temperature
• Vector classifications:
- Fixed or bound vectors have well defined points of
application that cannot be changed without affecting
an analysis.
- Free vectors may be freely moved in space without
changing their effect on an analysis.
- Sliding vectors may be applied anywhere along their
line of action without affecting an analysis.
• Equal vectors have the same magnitude and direction.
• Negative vector of a given vector has the same magnitude
and the opposite direction.
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Addition of Vectors
• Trapezoid rule for vector addition

• Triangle rule for vector addition

• Law of cosines,
C
B R 2  P 2  Q 2  2 PQ cos B
  
C R  PQ

• Law of sines,
sin A sin B sin C
 
B Q R A

• Vector addition is commutative,

   
PQ  Q P

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Addition of Vectors
• The polygon rule for the addition of three or
more vectors.

• Vector subtraction

5
Resultant and components of
forces
• Concurrent forces: set of forces which all
pass through the same point.

A set of concurrent forces applied to a

particle may be replaced by a single
resultant force which is the vector sum of the
applied forces.

• Vector force components: two or more force

vectors which, together, have the same effect
as a single force vector.

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 Prob# 2.1 (Beer)
• Graphical solution - A parallelogram with sides
equal to P and Q is drawn to scale. The
magnitude and direction of the resultant or of
the diagonal to the parallelogram are measured,

The two forces act on a bolt at A.

Determine their resultant.

R  98 N   35

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Prob# 2.1 (Beer)
• Graphical solution - A triangle is drawn with P
and Q head-to-tail and to scale. The magnitude
and direction of the resultant or of the third side
of the triangle are measured,

R  98 N   35

• Trigonometric solution - Apply the triangle rule.

From the Law of Cosines,
R 2  P 2  Q 2  2 PQ cos B
 40 N 2  60 N 2  240 N 60 N  cos 155
R  97.73N
From the Law of Sines,
sin A sin B Q 60 N
 or , sin A  sin B  sin 155
Q R R 97.73N
A  15.04
  20  A   35.04
 Prob # 2.2 (Beer)

A barge is pulled by two tugboats. If • Graphical solution - Parallelogram Rule

the resultant of the forces exerted by with known resultant direction and
the tugboats is 5000 lbf directed magnitude, known directions for sides.
along the axis of the barge, determine

a) the tension in each of the ropes T1  3700 lbf T2  2600 lbf

for  = 45o

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Prob # 2.2 (Beer)

• Trigonometric solution - Triangle Rule

with Law of Sines
T1 T2 5000 lbf
 
sin 45 sin 30 sin 105

T1  3660 lbf T2  2590 lbf

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Rectangular components of a force
• May resolve a force vector into perpendicular
components so that the resulting parallelogram is a
rectangle. Fx and Fy are referred to as rectangular
vector components and
  
F  Fx  Fy
 
• Define perpendicular unit vectors i and j which are
parallel to the x and y axes.

• Vector components may be expressed as products of

the unit vectors with the scalar magnitudes of the
vector components.
  
F  Fx i  Fy j

Fx and Fy are referred to as the scalar components of F
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Addition of forces by summing
components
• Wish to find the resultant of 3 or more
concurrent forces,
   
R  PQS

• Resolve each force into rectangular components

       
Rx i  R y j  Px i  Py j  Qx i  Q y j  S x i  S y j
 Px  Qx  S x i  Py  Q y  S y  j
 

• The scalar components of the resultant are equal

to the sum of the corresponding scalar
components of the given forces.
Rx  Px  Qx  S x R y  Py  Q y  S y
  Fx   Fy
• To find the resultant magnitude and direction,
1 R y
R  Rx  R y
2 2
  tan
Rx 12
Problem 2.3 (Beer)

Four forces act on bolt A as shown.

Determine the resultant of the force
on the bolt.

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Solution
• Resolve each force into rectangular components.
force mag x  comp y  comp

F1 150  129.9  75.0

F2 80  27.4  75.2

F3 110 0  110.0

F4 100  96.6  25.9
R x  199.1 R y  14.3

• Determine the components of the resultant by

adding the corresponding force components.
• Calculate the magnitude and direction.
R  199.12  14.32 R  199.6 N
14.3 N
tan     4 .1 
199.1 N
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 Equilibrium of a particle
• When the resultant of all forces acting on a particle is zero, the particle is
in equilibrium.
• Newton’s First Law: If the resultant force on a particle is zero, the particle will
remain at rest or will continue at constant speed in a straight line.

• Particle acted upon by • Particle acted upon by three or more forces:

two forces: - graphical solution yields a closed polygon
- equal magnitude - algebraic solution
- same line of action  
R  F  0
- opposite sense
 Fx  0  Fy  0
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Free-Body Diagrams

Space Diagram: A sketch showing Free-Body Diagram: A sketch showing

the physical conditions of the only the forces on the selected particle.
problem.

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Problem 2.6

It is desired to determine the drag force at a given

speed on a prototype sailboat hull. A model is placed
in a test channel and three cables are used to align its
bow on the channel centerline. For a given speed, the
tension is 40 lb in cable AB and 60 lb in cable AE.
Determine the drag force exerted on the hull and the
tension in cable AC.
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Solution
• From the free body diagram of the hull

7 ft 1.5 ft
tan    1.75 tan    0.375
4 ft 4 ft
  60.25   20.56

• Now, condition for equilibrium,

    
R  TAB  TAC  TAE  FD  0

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Solution
• Resolving the vector
equilibrium equation into two
component equations,
  
 TAB  40 lb sin 60.26 i  40 lb  cos 60.26 j
 
 34.73 lb  i  19.84 lb  j
  
 TAC  TAC sin 20.56 i  TAC cos 20.56 j
 
 0.3512 TAC i  0.9363 TAC j
 
 T  60 lb  i
 
 FD  FD i


R0

  34.73  0.3512 TAC  FD  i

 19.84  0.9363 TAC  60  j
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Solution

R0

  34.73  0.3512 T AC  FD  i

 19.84  0.9363 T AC  60  j

This equation is satisfied only if each component

of the resultant is equal to zero

 Fx  0 0  34.73  0.3512 TAC  FD

 Fy  0 0  19.84  0.9363TAC  60
T AC  42.9 lb
FD  19.66 lb

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Rectangular Components in Space

 
• The vector F is • Resolve F into • Resolve Fh into
contained in the horizontal and vertical rectangular components
plane OBAC. components. Fx  Fh cos 
F y  F cos  y  F sin  y cos 
Fh  F sin  y Fy  Fh sin 
 F sin  y sin 
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Rectangular Components in Space


• With the angles between F and the axes,
Fx  F cos  x Fy  F cos  y Fz  F cos  z
   
F  Fx i  Fy j  Fz k

 F cos  x i  cos  y j  cos  z k 
 

 F
   
  cos  x i  cos  y j  cos  z k
 
•  is a unit vector along the line of action of F
and cos  x , cos
  y , and cos  z are the direction
cosines for F
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Rectangular Components in Space
Direction of the force is defined by
the location of two points,
M  x1 , y1 , z1  and N  x2 , y2 , z 2 


d  vector joining M and N
  
 d xi  d y j  d z k
d x  x2  x1 , d y  y2  y1 , d z  z 2  z1
 
F  F

 
 1   
  d xi  d y j  d z k
d
Fd x Fd y Fd z
Fx  Fy  Fz 
d d d
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Prob# 2.111 (Beer)
• A transmission tower is held by three guy wires attached to
a pin at A and anchored by bolts at B, C, and D. If the tension
in wire AB is 630 lb, determine the vertical force P exerted
by the tower on the pin at A.

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